Klopp on Liverpool's FA Cup exit: "Losing 2-0 is not cool"

Jürgen Klopp put Liverpool's recent slump down to defensive lapses after their FA Cup campaign was ended by Chelsea on Tuesday night.

The Reds went down 2-0 at Stamford Bridge; Adrián, standing in for first-choice goalkeeper Alisson, was unsighted for the first – a stinging shot from Willian before Ross Barkley blasted in the second after the break.

Liverpool suffer second defeat in four days

Liverpool had also lost 3-0 at Watford on Saturday, their first Premier League defeat this season, and have now conceded two or more goals in three consecutive matches for the first time since 2016. Joe Gomez's return to the starting XI next to Virgil van Dijk failed to shore things up at the back against Chelsea, though Klopp is not too concerned by a run of just one win in four outings.

"Losing 2-0 is not cool but in this case, it’s relatively easy to explain. We made two massive mistakes around the goal mouth. Adrián made a super save two second before but he couldn’t save the next shot, a great effort by Willian. Before that we lost the ball and that’s the problem," he explained. "It went our way for so long because we defended outstandingly, Usually you don't get a lot of chances against us and stuff like this, but now we have to admit that in the last three games – [maybe] four – we have conceded absolutely too many goals, that's true. I am not worried about the momentum – momentum is not something you get as a present, you have to get it to keep it. We have always a chance to get it back. I am not concerned about the momentum, but it is football and we never thought it would be an easy season, it would be an easy period, it would be an easy game tonight. Nothing, it was always clear it would be difficult – it was always clear it was difficult. We did very well, but tonight not good enough in decisive moments and that's what we have to accept."

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Kepa saves

Kepa Arrizabalaga made a triple save to deny Sadio Mané, Divock Origi and Curtis Jones in quick succession when Chelsea only led 1-0, though Liverpool failed to muster an on-target attempt in the second half. Still, Klopp was pleased enough with the display, particularly after he had rotated his squad by making seven changes to the starting line-up.

"The performance tonight was completely different at Watford," the German said. "Against Watford it was really bad, tonight it was not bad. It was a really super-intense game. We made seven changes and we knew it would be intense and that's why we made the changes because it was clear a lot of sprints, spaces in midfield. How Chelsea plays, how we want to play, it was clear you need accelerations constantly. They offer that constantly and that's why we had to make the changes, or we thought we have to make them. That performance tonight, I am not concerned about [it]. That's football, if you make decisive mistakes then you lose football games."